Spring, 2008. Portland, Oregon. The sidewalk outside Fred Meyer. A young man shouts through a crowd of people getting off a bus.

“Hey! Hey! What makes you so peaceful?” I look up, confused. He pushes closer, his huge curly hair bobbing above the human chaos. He reaches me, out of breath. “Yeah!” He shouts again: “What makes you so peaceful?”

I don’t immediately find a convenient answer, so I search my mental hard drive for “Buddhism, peace, cause of …” I look up at the man and pause. He leans forward, panting slightly. I tell him about ethics, how living according to some basic precepts makes the mind more peaceful. I tell him it’s been true for me, that since I’ve been trying to do it, life has a lot less worry and anxiety and a lot more, well, peace. I explain that harming others disturbs the mind. I say something basic about karma. …

To put an end to our samsaric suffering, we must do two things: One is to purify the negative actions we’ve done every day of our lives and in our infinite previous lives as well. We also have to change our minds and actions and abstain from creating further negativities.